{{Short description|Chinese historian, politician and writer (1764–1849)}} {{Expand Russian|topic=bio|Жуань Юань|date=January 2026}} {{family name hatnote|[[Ruan (surname)|Ruan]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox officeholder | name = Ruan Yuan<br>阮元 | image = File:阮元像.JPG | image_size = 200px
| office = [[Grand Secretariat|Grand Secretary of the Tiren Library]] | term_start = 1835 | term_end = 1838 | predecessor = | successor =
| office1 = [[Grand Secretariat|Assistant Grand Secretary]] | term_start1 = 1832 | term_end1 = 1835 | predecessor1 = | successor1 =
| order2 = [[Viceroy of Huguang]] | term_start2 = 1816 | term_end2 = 1817 | predecessor2 = [[Sun Yuting]] | successor2 = [[Qingbao]]
| order3 = [[Viceroy of Liangguang]] | term_start3 = 22 October 1817 | term_end3 = 22 June 1826 | predecessor3 = [[Jiang Youxian]] | successor3 = [[Li Hongbin]]
| order4 = [[Viceroy of Yun-Gui]] | term_start4 = 1826 | term_end4 = 1835 | predecessor4 = [[Zhao Shenzhen]] | successor4 = [[Yilibu]]
| order5 = Viceroy of Rivers and Waterways | term_start5 = 1812 | term_end5 = 1814 | predecessor5 = Xu Zhaochun | successor5 = Guifang
| occupation = Historian, politician, writer | birth_date = February 21, 1764 | birth_place = [[Yizheng]], [[Qing dynasty]] | death_date = November 27, 1849 (aged 85) | death_place = [[Yangzhou]], [[Qing dynasty]] }} {{Infobox Chinese |c=阮元 |p=Ruǎn Yuán |w=Juan<sup>3</sup> Yüan<sup>2</sup> |mi={{IPAc-cmn|r|uan|3|-|yuan|2}} |j=Jyun<sup>5</sup> Jyun<sup>4</sup> |wuu=Niun-nyy |y=Yúhn Yùhn |tl=Ńg Guân }}
'''Ruan Yuan''' ({{zh|c=阮元}}; 1764–1849), [[courtesy name]] '''Boyuan''' (伯元), [[art name]] '''Yuntai''' (芸臺), [[posthumous name]] '''Wenda''' (文達), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer of the [[Qing dynasty]] who was the most prominent Chinese scholar during the first half of the 19th century.{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1991|p=12}} He won the ''jinshi'' degree in the [[imperial examination]]s in 1789 and was subsequently appointed to the [[Hanlin Academy]]. He was known for his work ''Biographies of Astronomers and Mathematicians'' and for his editing the ''[[Shisan Jing Zhushu]]'' (Commentaries and Notes on the Thirteen Classics) for the Qing emperor.
Ruan Yuan was a successful official as well as a scholar. He was the [[Viceroy of Liangguang]], the most important imperial official in Canton ([[Guangzhou]]), during the critical years 1817–1826, just before the [[First Opium War]] with Britain. It was a crucial time when Chinese trade with the outside world was allowed only through the [[Canton System]], with all foreigners confined to Canton, the capital of [[Guangdong]] Province. During his tenure in Canton, Ruan is estimated to have earned more than 195,000 [[tael]]s of silver.{{sfn|Wei|2006|p=301}}
He was widely recognized as an official, scholar, and patron of learning both by his contemporaries and by modern scholars. He was also praised as an honest official and an exemplary man of the ‘Confucian persuasion’. His name is mentioned in almost all works on Qing history or Chinese classics because of the wide range of his research and publications. A number of these publications are still reprinted. Ruan Yuan was a follower of the [[Han Learning]] tradition and as such, with the encouragement of [[Liu Fenglu]], he edited and organized publication of the compendium of the imperial achievements in ''kaozheng'' scholarship, the ''Huang Qing Jingjie'' ([[:zh:皇清经解|皇清经解]]) published in 1829.
Kong Luhua (relative of the [[Duke Yansheng]]) was the second wife of Ruan Yuan.<ref name="Wei2006">{{cite book|author=Betty Peh-T'I Wei|title=Ruan Yuan, 1764-1849: The Life and Work of a Major Scholar-Official in Nineteenth-Century China before the Opium War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lxUMoR5TXcC&q=kong+luhua&pg=PA246|date=1 August 2006|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn=978-962-209-785-8|pages=246–}}</ref>
== See also == * [[Yanjingshi ji]] * [[Wei Yuan]] * [[Lin Zexu]] * [[Qishan (official)|Qishan]] * [[Yishan (official)|Yishan]]
==References== {{reflist}}
;Bibliography * {{cite ECCP|title=Juan Yüan |ref=none}} <!-- Hummel --> * {{cite book | title = Confucian Cultures of Authority | chapter = Establishing authority through scholarship: Ruan Yuan and the Xuehaitang Academy | first = Steven B. | last = Miles | pages = 151–169 | editor1-first = Peter D. | editor1-last = Hershock | editor2-first = Roger T. | editor2-last = Ames|editor-link2=Roger T. Ames | publisher = [[SUNY Press]] | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-7914-8156-1 | ref=none }} * {{cite book | title = The Sea of Learning: Mobility and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Guangzhou | first = Steven B. | last = Miles | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-674-02134-1 | ref=none }} * {{cite book |last=Shaughnessy |first=Edward L. |date=1991 |title=Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520070288}} * {{Cite book | first = Betty Peh-T'i | last = Wei | author-link = Betty Wei | title = Ruan Yuan, 1764–1849: The Life And Work of a Major Scholar-Official in Nineteenth-Century China Before the Opium War | year= 2006 | publisher= Hong Kong University Press | isbn = 962-209-785-5 }}
==External links== * [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Printonly/Ruan_Yuan.html Ruan Yuan biography from St. Andrews University]
<!-- Succession box --> {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=[[Jiang Youxian]] (蔣攸銛)}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Viceroy of Liangguang|Governor-general of Liangguang]]|years=22 October 1817{{spaced ndash}}22 June 1826}} {{s-aft|after=[[Li Hongbin]] (李鴻賓)}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruan, Yuan}} [[Category:1764 births]] [[Category:1849 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century Chinese historians]] [[Category:Assistant grand secretaries]] [[Category:Chinese Confucianists]] [[Category:Grand secretaries of the Qing dynasty]] [[Category:Historians from Jiangsu]] [[Category:Historians of astronomy]] [[Category:Historians of mathematics]] [[Category:Politicians from Yangzhou]] [[Category:Viceroys of Huguang]] [[Category:Viceroys of Liangguang]] [[Category:Viceroys of Yun-Gui]] [[Category:Writers from Yangzhou]] [[Category:Qing dynasty classicists]]